Visiting Austria - History of Austria

Today's Austria is a small country, whose origins could be traced far back into history. Reaching back to prehistoric times, Austria's location in the heart of Europe means that Austria had its share of the Europe's historical developments. Austria evolved from a border region into a powerful empire which collapsed by the end of the 1st World War.  In 1918, the small, newly proclaimed Republic had at first to come to terms with its European neighbors. Austria emerged from the 2nd World War and the sufferings associated with it as a country that feels secure in its existence and which plays an important role in the European continent.

The Danube region was settled as early as the Paleolithic Age, between 80.000 and 10.000 BC. The Tänzerin (woman dancer), a small figure symbolizing a dancer, found in the Krems region and the Venus of Willendorf provide the first significant evidence of early settlements in Austria. In 1991, the important and sensational discovery of the mummified male body (Ötzi) dating from the Stone Age was made in the glacial ice of the Alps.  In the Early Iron Age, from around 800 to 400 BC, the Celts inhabited the region of what is now Austria, trading throughout Europe on salt and ores.

Around the time of Gesus, the Roman Empire conquered most part of today's Austria. Provinces of Raetia, Noricum and Pannonia were established as border regions.  The Roman Empire founded many settlements, of which Carnuntum in Pannonia, lying to the east of Vienna, was the largest Roman town on Austrian region.  After the 2nd century AD, Christianity began to spread in Austria as well.

The migration of different tribes from the east led to the decline of the Roman Empire. With the collapse of the great Roman Empire, the Roman way of life and culture also vanished from this region.  After the 6th century, continuous settlement of Austria started with the Bavarians of today's Germany, who encountered the Slavs and Avars advancing from the east.

The Frankish governor Charlemagne (747-814) established on the region of today's Austria the Carolingian March, or border province, between the rivers Enns, Raab and Drava. But in 907 this province collapsed following a defeat inflicted by the Magyars.  It was not until 955 that Otto the Great succeeded in beating the Magyars and reconquering the region.

The new rulers of the margravate initially settled in Melk. In 1156 Duke Heinrich II decided Vienna to be his permanent residence. Babenbergs extended their possessions to the north of the Danube River and further towards east and south.

In 1156, the Babenbergs secured the transformation of the margravate into a duchy by Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa, who allowed for greater independence from imperial power. In 1192 the Babenberg Leopold V acquired the Duchy of Styria through a contract of inheritance. After Duke Friedrich II was killed in the Battle of the Leitha against the Magyars in 1246, his lands became the object of his neighbors'. The Austrian nobility then sided with the King of Bohemia, Ottokar II, who secured the heritage for himself by marrying the last sister of the Babenberg's.

Ottokar II quickly succeeded in restoring the order, reconquering Styria and subjugating Carinthia through a contract of inheritance. However, the great Roman Empire's newly elected king, Rudolf von Habsburg, was not prepared to recognize the Bohemian king's power without swearing an oath of allegiance.  When both sides got into battle, Ottokar II was killed in the Battle of Dürnkrut in 1278.  In 1282, Rudolf married his two sons with the Duchies of Austria and Styria, thus laying the foundation for Habsburg dynasty power.

With the end of the 13th century to the middle of the 15th century the Habsburgs expanded their territory by gaining the Duchy of Carinthia (1334), the Earldom of Tyrol and the famous Windische Mark (1364).  Losses of territory in Switzerland were offset by the gaining of parts of today's province of Vorarlberg. The gifted Rudolf IV referred to as "The Founder", not only founded the University of Vienna but strengthened the position of his family for future generations by forging a document known as the "Privilegium maius."

Rudolf's capable successor, Duke Albrecht V, was married to Emperor Sigismund's daughter, thus becoming the King of Bohemia and Hungary. After the death of his father in law, Albrecht became the first Habsburg to be elected again as the German king of the Roman Empire. Following his death during a battle against the Ottomans in 1439, Friedrich V from of the Habsburgs began to rule in Austria and in the Roman Empire.

Through his prudent policy of alliances he successfully laid the foundations for the Habsburg Empire. He married his son Maximilian to the Burgundian heiress Maria. Maximilian had a shrewd marital policy to secure the hereditary succession in Bohemia, Hungary and Spain for his grandsons Ferdinand and Karl. The Habsburg dynasty subsequently divided into the Austro-German and the Spanish-Dutch lines. After the death of the last Jagellonian King Ludwig II in the Battle of Mohacs in 1527, Bohemia and Hungary united with Austria.

Emperor Leopold I

The Ottoman Empire, which had been coming on Europe ever since the 14th century, posed an ever greater threat to the European continent. Following the conquest of Istanbul in 1453, the Ottomans advanced even further westwards and became a great danger for the Habsburg dynasty.  The Ottomans reached the gates of Vienna twice before they were driven back (in 1529 and 1683 - 1st and 2nd Turkish Sieges). It took several battles with heavy losses to banish the Ottomans and to reconquer Hungary. Austria's emergence as a major power was mainly due to the brilliant military general Prince Eugene of Savoy, who served under three emperors (Leopold I, Josef I and Karl VI) and proved to be an outstanding military commander.

In 1701 the Spanish line of the Habsburgs died out. In the war of the Spanish Succession, which took place in Europe, the House of Austria did not succeed in winning back the Spanish possessions but only managed to maintain its rule over Italy and the Netherlands.

Empress Maria Theresia

In 1740, with the death of Emperor Karl VI, the male line of the Habsburg dynasty came to an end.  Karl's daughter Maria Theresa succeeded her father as empress of the patrimonial lands, since the "Pragmatic Sanction", which had been issued in 1713 allowed for female succession. Maria Theresia, who married Franz Stephan of Lorraine, found herself faced with a group of enemies who were seeking to capture the Habsburg lands. The Prussian King, Friedrich II, was especially eager to gain possession of this dynasty.  Maria Theresa had to fight two wars (the Silesian War, 1741-1748, and the Seven Years War, 1757-1763) in order to keep her lands intact, with the exception of the rich province of Silesia, which she lost to Prussia.

Maria Theresa's husband, who was elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1745 as Franz I, was overshadowed by his wife throughout his lifetime. Maria Theresia implemented a program of important reforms in Austrian Empire.

The system of Austrian absolutism was severely threatened by the ideas emerging from the French Revolution in 1789, which spread to Austria, albeit cautiously.  Emperor Franz II, the grandson of Empress Maria Theresa and nephew of the executed French queen, Marie Antoinette, joined a coalition against France. As a result, Austria suffered severe defeats in the battles led by Napoleon Bonaparte of France.

After Napoleon became the Emperor of France in 1804, Emperor Franz responded by establishing the Austrian Empire. In his subsequent battles Napoleon inflicted huge defeats upon Austria and even conquered Vienna twice. On the other hand, Archduke Carl's victory over the great Napoleon at the Battle of Aspern showed that Napoleon was actually not invincible. The Vienna Congress in 1815 which was presided over by Chancellor Prince Clemens Wenzel Lothar Metternich, restored the old situation in Europe.

In 1848, the ideas of the middle class revolution that started in France also spread to Austria.  Liberals demanded a constitution and freedom for the press.  In October of 1848 the uprising was suppressed with the conservatives gaining on all fronts. The young emperor Franz Joseph I established a new neoabsolutist system. His policy of neutrality in the Crimean War (1853-1856) led Austria into a very dangerous isolation.

Political developments in Austria were marked by the emergence of the mass parties (Christian Social Party and Social Democratic Party) and the demand for basic civil rights. The first general elections were held in 1907 by direct suffrage to the Imperial Council.

The long period of peace which lasted until the 1st World War was guarded by a complicated system of European alliances, with Austria-Hungarian Empire joining up with the German Empire and Italy to form a Triple Alliance. However, the increasing trend of nationalism within the multiracial empire caused a severe tension. The justified demands of the working class for a better wage and conditions fit for human beings also demanded a solution.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the Austrian throne) on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo, was only the provocation for the outbreak of the 1st World War. In 4 years of slaughter the European powers opposed one another, until the entry into the conflict of USA finally brought the war to an end.  After the defeat of the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary, Germany and allied Ottoman Empire), the European order crumbled. The dual monarchy disintegrated into national states. The remnants formed the new Republic of Austria.